by Amr (@siegarettes)
- Pipe Push Paradise
- Developer: Corey Martin
- Switch, PC, Xbox One/PS4 later this year
The island of Pipe Push Paradise has an infrastructure problem. They have a single plumber, and he’s been asleep for about a week. And of course every pipe seems to have come undone since then. That’s where I enter, on a lonely sailboat, coming to fix the plumbing problems of a town that seems almost indifferent to my existence.
Out of sheer indignance and stubbornness I’d like to say that I’ll complete all of Pipe Push Paradise’s puzzles. But sometimes you’ve got admit when you’re over your head, and I am waaaaay over my head with these problems. The flat shaded, Golden Books-esque aesthetic might seem inviting, but it quickly became clear that this island’s plumbing problems are mind bending nightmares.
Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking these are simplistic Pipe Dreams style puzzles. No, these are devious mental torture ala the infuriating Stephen’s Sausage Roll. From the start Paradise makes it clear that solving these puzzles will require a lot of three dimensional thinking and forethought.
I often needed to use pipes to push others into place, consider the extra space needed thanks to the way angled pieces tend to roll over or become blocked, or intentionally block a piece from turning in order to keep part of it vertical and fit it into spaces it otherwise wouldn’t.
Designer Corey Martin was always one step ahead of me when it came to the solution. Most puzzles present with an obvious solution, only to reveal one step away that it could never work, forcing me to mentally backtrack and reconsider the puzzle with new information. Paradise never let me get away with using one piece at a time either, every piece needs to be dealt with as part of the whole.
One particularly devious puzzle early on gave me an easy solution–only to end up trapping me inside the puzzle, cutting me off from the overworld used to navigate to other puzzles.
Basically every puzzle has some twist on what seem to be basic mechanics, introducing me to all sorts of applications for the pieces I hadn’t considered before. After the few (not exactly easy) introductory areas it began to take me upwards of a half hour or more to complete single puzzles. I’d often walk away from them and try to work out other puzzles in the area, or turn the game off to give my brain time to mull it over.
One particular puzzle took so long I began to notice a subtle shift in color palette as I worked it out. Turns out Pipe Push Paradise has a day and night cycle, just to make it clear that yes, I did indeed take all day to solve one problem. GAH. Way to rub it in.
I do have to admit, there is a great satisfaction to finally solving Paradise’s problems. It often comes off as cheeky and dastardly, but there’s none of the antagonism that Stephen’s Sausage Roll or other difficult games employ, at least not yet. Mostly, it’s kind of indifferent, with some playful nudges back on course every once in a while.
It might take me a year, hell it might take me several years, to finish Pipe Push Paradise. But for now I’m happy to at least attempt to solve its problems. At least until there’s one that takes me over a month to solve. Then it might be time to put down the stubbornness and admit I’m over my head.